Its tea time

Another indian town, done and dusted. Leaving ooty today after an extremely pleasant time here. Ooty is at 2200m so its much cooler than most places in the south and I've actually had to use my jacket! Ooty is a lovely indian town, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by tea plantations and old colonial styles it brings a bit of home into the craziness that is india! Now when i say it brings a bit of home to india, don't think this means typical english at all. Instead imagine the odd tea shop selling something that resembles a cake, and sugary sweet milky tea alongside a stall selling caged chickens and perhaps a motorbike repair stall. This is how the british managed to come into india, squashed between every day life.

Lloyd, emily and I thought out would be nice to hike to the highest point in southern india. We were hoping to find the forest trail that leads up but eventually settled for the road. The walk up was beautiful but the top was spoilt by a crowd of tourists and a paid entrance to the view. The complete commercialisation of the top want enough to ruin it but we didn't linger long, and headed back down the road to enjoy the more peaceful views on the way.

On the way down we stopped at a tea plantation and watched briefly how tea is made before being able to sample it. I've bought some masala tea I'm looking forward to trying.

I have to admit a did spend quite a lot of time in our antique hotel reading and enjoying the atmosphere while drinking loads of unsweetened tea.

I'm now in the sivananda ashram near madurai and enjoying the peace and quiet out here. Very few cars hooting and no staring eyes. (yesterday while waiting for the train I felt so uncomfortable being started at my disgusting teenage boys that I had to go into the paid waiting room to avoid the looks).

The flip out

I've been very bad at writing these last few days so there's a lot to say now!

Hampi was such a beautiful place to visit. Its an area of boulders and rocks with ancient temples and bazaars built scattered through the countryside. The whole area is not really walkable so the first day we arrived we wandered up a hill with a temple on top and and just admired the view all around. Its hard to describe the beauty of a place, especially when surrounded by centuries of history and spirituality.

The next day we were proper tourists and went with the tourist departments guide on a bike ride through the old ruins. That was an adventure. he really knew his stuff and gave us so much detailed information that I don't remember any of it!

There were about 10 of us on his tour and when we arrived he walked us over to where we picked up our bikes for the morning. These bikes were about 20 years old! All steel frames with only 1 gear and extremely suspect brakes! It was nice, though, to get on a bike again and cycle around. Cycling up a hill with only one gear is no simple task but a great accomplishment when you do get to the top! The tour started with us having to surmount this massive hill and as we eventually got to the top the guide appeared alongside us on his scooter. Not a chance he was going to cycle! Only in india!

Towards the end of the tour, as we were furthest from our starting point and about to turn around, one of the group got a puncture and because we're in india the guide does not bring spares or any way of fixing the tyre. Instead he tells he poor guy that he has to climb onto the back of the bike, sit backwards and carry his bike til we got back to hampi. To make matters worse, another of the group had his shoe break and had been riding on the back of the bike for most of the tour so now there were 3 people and a bicycle on the scooter travelling along dirt roads with no helmets and the guy holding the bike couldn't even hold onto the scooter! Only in india!

Yesterday we arrived in mysore after a very long 12 hour train ride! We thought it would be rather easy finding a place to stay but emily and lloyd have a very tight budget so we had a long morning of searching for a place that fit our budget and was clean. What a mission! Either the place was filthy or there was only a bucket shower and indian toilet or it was too expensive.

In the end we found a place that seemed passable and were prepared to stay there. However, things did not work out quite so well. We first asked if we could drop our things in the room and then come down to settle everything and the guy said no so I went to the counter and was told how much was owed and asked to fill out the register. meanwhile lloyd and emily were sorting through their bags to get what they needed. I put my share of the money on the counter and started filling in my details. While I was doing this he kept saying 950, 950 which was the total money owed so I explained I put down how much I was paying and emily and lloyd would be over to pay their share. To which he said 950, 950. Now don't get me wrong, he did speak english, he'd just explained the room situation to us in english but once again I explained that emily and lloyd would pay for the double, I was just paying for the single. He just got more insistent, tapping the ledger for me to fill out while at the same time telling me a needed to give him more money. I flipped out, asked him where he thought we'd disappear to with his money, we were staying right upstairs and he just needed to calm down and give us a moment, we'd been on a train for 12 hours at which point emily and lloyd came and high fived me and we walked out. Its not often I get angry but that man made me so angry! I still don't quite know what he thought would happen to his money or where we would disappear to! Eventually we found a reasonably clean hotel with everything we wanted, although its very noisy!

We arrived in mysore on the perfect day, every sunday they light up the place here and it turns into a fairy castle and they let everyone in for free too. It was such a lovely atmosphere, felt a bit like a festival. Mysore is one of the cleanest indian cities I've visited. And for a city, quite a nice place.

A picture is worth 1000 words

Todays blog will be told in pictures. Words are not necessary!

The 12 hour bus ride

This is a post I don't need to embellish, its a post I'm not sure I can do justice to at the moment but it will be the post about indian buses!

the day started at 6:00 with me, emily and lloyd boarding a rickshaw to bring us to the bus station. That was the start of our extremely long day!

We found our bus and looked in horror at the smooth tyres and many dents in the body work. We scrambled to quickly use the famously bad indian toilets then climbed onto the bus, ready for the experience! And what an experience it was! The engine started and off we went. The ticket man was a lovely guy, he comes around, asks where you are going, types it into a little gizmo and gives you your receipt. He also has a little whistle he blows when someone wants to get on or off. I guess the driver must be too focussed on avoiding the cows, goats, dogs, monkeys, scooters and cyclists on the road to pay attention to what the passengers want.

The first long leg of our trip was 150 km. you might be mistaken for thinking that'd take just over a couple of hours. Not in india, in india that takes 5.5 hours.

We have come to the conclusion that the back suspension in the buses must've rusted away years ago and instead of replacing the shocks, they just welded them solid. I cannot exaggerate how hard the buses hit every single bump. When we came across a speed bump we braced ourselves to fly off the seat. If it was a particularly fast speed bump we could hit the roof of the bus we were jolted so high! It is not as fun as it may sound, it results in head aches and really bad stomach cramps!

The second leg of our trip was another 150 km, this section only took us 4 hours because a lot of it was on india's joke of a motor way. You can tell I've been around english people, calling it a motor way... In india buses pull over to pick up passengers on the freeways. Its also not unusual to see a cow on a free way.

After so may hours on these public buses, bouncing our brains around til they were sure we were a few brian cells less we finally arrived in our second to last destination. The thought of one more bus was just killing me and emily so we out voted lloyd and got a rickshaw, with suspension and also a lovely driver. He agreed to drive us around til we found a place we were happy to stay in. and we found an incredible place to stay!

Hampi looks incredible. Old temples amidst boulders and rivers, it looks like the flintstones met ganesh and created a beautiful landscape! Photos to follow!

And its caught up to me

After 11 days I finally got the queasy stomach I'd been promised. Thankfully it required not much more than me spending most of the day lying in my hammock, reading while my stomach tossed and turned, trying to make sense of all the alien food I've been eating. Some grapefruit seeed extract later (yuck) I'm feeling fine but we're going to the expensive restaurant for dinner tonight! Last night we went into this fancy looking place ironically blasting zen music and paid a small (indian) fortune for some of the most dreadful food we've eaten since we've been here! The first bland indian food I've eaten here!

Tomorrow I brave the government buses in india and travel to Hampi. Thankfully I've picked up a lovely couple on my way who will be making this perilous journey with me. I've been told to expect bumpy roads, long delays, crushing masses and unabashed stares. I've also been told I might be invited around to dinner (I first wrote for dinner, then thought that sounded a bit barbaric, wouldn't want my mother worrying!).

Hopefully tomorrow's blog post will be a bit more worth the time you spend reading it.

About that spider

Today has been an extremely relaxing day, after all our exertions walking to town and discovering hidden beaches, today was a reading day. Naturally on a reading day you still have to take a short stroll and a short stroll in india its never without some kind of adventure. Herewith is related the exact truth of todays adventure, no embellishment, I promise.

Emily and I went for a walk around the back of the huts today hoping that in walking away from the beach we may be lucky enough to find shade and keep our feet momentarily sand free. We looked in on an old hindu shrine where we'd been told they practiced human sacrifices at some point (this could quite likely be nonsense though) and then continued on over brooks through forests, under coconut groves until we came upon the fabled spider of yesterday's story! Yes, I did not tell a lie, I only got my days mixed up! This spider was huge! Hold out your hand look at it, now imagine that hand is a spider. That was what we saw! Thankfully it was quite high up in the trees watching protectively over its rather weather beaten web. That weather beaten web must've been about half a metre in length and although holey, still very capable of catching a multitude of insects, both large and small. After considerable observation and due thankfulness that we hadn't really run into a spiders web we continued our stroll. Besides a rather shy peacock the walk then ended without further drama and I am happily ensconced in my hammock once again.

Yesterday we all decided it was high time to head into town for the cheap food and some very necessary insect repellant! Mosquitos and necklace sellers definitely rate amongst the most irksome things in india! Be fore-warned, if you ever come to india you cannot bring enough different types of mosquito repellents with you! Sprays, creams, burners, bracelets, whatever you can find, bring!

So getting back to the point, we thought that in 32° heat, around 10 am, just as things really get hot, it would be a great time to walk across beaches and over rocky barren plateaus to get into town. Perhaps, now that I look back on it and can look at my mosquito free legs I'll feel like it was worth that effort, or perhaps not. I did manage to find a nice light cotton shirt that makes me look a bit like a homeless man or a bag lady but which has the merit of being exceeding cool. I can also assure you that gokarna town has not much to recommend it besides a few grumpy vendors, cheap food and the sin forgiving statue I mentioned previously. This all meant that after our horrendous trek in at 10, we were ready to leave at about 1. Naturally we were thinking that hiking at the hottest times of the day would be nothing but character building... I have rarely suffered as I did on that blistering walk back. Next time I'll pay that rickshaw driver his 200 ruppees!

Half moon

Yesterday the intrepid explorers, emily, lloyd and the dassie headed of to explore the unexplored, conquer the unconquered and just generally become heros. We set off to explore the less frequented beaches in gokarna which require quite a lot of hiking and scrambling over rocks, through jungles and across the path of snakes. But were we afraid? Maybe once, when a snake crossed our paths, with such a vicious look in its eyes my thoughts automatically jumped to ka (from the jungle book, you illiterates) and in terror we all shut our eyes and made a run for it, straight into the biggest spiders web you could ever imagine, which held us almost suspended as we fought to free our limbs before the probably giant spider returned! Ok I lied about the spiders web but it did make it seem more dramatic. Well while we were in this conundrum, deciding whether it was worth being hypnotised by ka-like snakes, a pleasant group of indians walked passed us and on hearing our dilemma and upon seeing the snake promptly informed us it was a completely harmless snake and we were all quite safe to cross its path.

And so the explorers continued, prepared to face anything, but slightly relieved the group of indians in front of us would have to face it first! After what seemed like hours, the sweat dripping into our eyes so that the horizon a appeared a blur before us, a mirage of sand and water appeared before us, not unlike those that wander through the desert see. But was it a mirage? Wiping the buckets of sweat from our eyes we focused and there before us lay a beach so beautiful it was hard to believe it wasn't fake. Our indian guides continued on but we lingered, over joyed at the thought that we had the whole beach to ourselves! No tourists, no pesky necklace sellers and no gaping locals as we stripped off and ran joyously into the slightly polluted so not so crystal clear arabian sea. A mere half an hours walk (through a dense, snake packed jungle) away from a tourist trap, lau this pristine beach, lined I must add with coconut trees. Lloyd (emily's boyfriend, and emily being a girl I met on the walk back from town) was designated the task of using a bamboo pole to knock down a coconut, which he successfully managed much to our surprise. He was then set the task of opening it with only a swiss army knife at his disposal, which he managed, much to our surprise. Lloyd doesn't like coconut so emily and I feasted on his hard work. Makes me think of the little red hen a bit, but the little red hen who didn't even get to eat her bread!

Is that a tan... Or dirt?

So today has been a week in india  and I'm having a hard time telling if my feet are stained dirty or if I have a horrible sandal tan. I'm hoping its a tan...

But seriously the beach here is incredible, rather empty with only the occasional tourist and some local fisherman. Really worth the visit to come here! This beach is in the shape of an m which is why its called om beach. The swimming is not great because there is a very strong under current but it will not deter me! When its 32° outside with 85% humidity, I'll put my faith in my swimming!

I visited the town today. Its a lovely but extremely hot walk over a rocky hill. The rocks here are so interesting, they're a deep red and look like lava rocks but I've been told they're not. Anyone have the inclination to google it?

Power has just gone out and there is a lightening storm in the horizon. How exciting! The power goes out a lot in india!

Back to the town trip. There are some temples there which I visited but when I realised I had to leave money I quickly stopped visiting. I did see a ganesh statue that is supposed to absolve me of all sins. That could never be a bad thing. Other than pricey temples, gokarna town does not have much to offer. Its beaches are the reason to come here! Especially om beach, the ones closet to town are rather dirty unfortunately.

Tomorrow I'm going to explore paradise beach, an hour hike in which most people don't bother to make.

On the move again

When you find somewhere clean to stay in india, it becomes quite difficult to leave but leave I did today because as much as I like clean, my budget doesn't! So I hopped on train to gokarna. What an interesting experience! Firstly I managed to bargain down from 400 to 250 ruppees for my taxi then the train to gokarna cost all of 30 ruppees, for a 130 km train trip! Second class train travel is super cheap over here! (you can see from my pictures why). There are loads of people selling good and drinks and snacks, the train is contrasted by energetic sellers walking up and down shouting their merchandise for sale and the travellers who sit weary eyed and half asleep in the rows and rows of (very hard) seats.

I met a couple of german tourists on the train and they bargained ruthlessly for the taxi ride here, we paid only 70 ruppees each... I almost felt bad for the taxi driver, but he could've said no I guess. Ashley listening to them I feel like I'm always being ripped off! They seem to be leaving india with an intense dislike of indians. What a shame!

After trawling the beach looking for the cheapest room to stay in that was the least shitty, I ended up at the first place I went to. So typical! It had the cleanest bathrooms by far! I'm not too fussy about sleeping arrangements, a bed is a bed, but bathrooms I find hard to compromise! When a bathroom door half closes with a piece of string I have to decline. I'll pay those extra 50 ruppees a night!

I'm on a beach called om beach, gokarna is a group of beaches clustered together and separated by forests. As of yet I have just experienced a lot of little bungalows that all look similar and a few cows on the beach. Quite a few hippy looking tourists who seem to belong to the landscape. Full on om beach assessment tomorrow, as well as report on showers here. I suspect there its no hot water. I can deal with that though, when its 30° outside!

Every day life

The last 2 days have consisted of me relaxing, reading and generally feeling like I'm on a tropical island. The rice paddies my room overlooks are full of birds and pigs sorting through the muck looking for the tasty stuff. I managed to buy 3 pairs of trousers for 950 ruppees which I think is a good price. I don't know if it is a good price but really if I think about it, I can't complain!

I also bought ayervedic face mask for 99 ruppees, I'm going to go broke shopping in india! But it will take me a while!

There are so many stray dogs around here! They're all wild and live un the rice paddies, eating left over food and waste from all the beach restaurants. Its quite terrifying seeing about 10 dogs siting in a pack, occasionally growling and snapping at passer-bys. I doubt they ever attack but they do look menacing!

so far, being a single female in india I have felt no more apprehension than I feel walking around in south africa. Maybe even slightly safety here in india! Sure people may try rip you off but why not, we have so much more money than them and if we're stupid enough, then we probably don't deserve to have that money!

Tomorrow I'll be leaving goa and head to gokarna, its come highly recommended by many people for both its temples and beaches.

The squeaky beach sand

Today is my first day in goa and I quite like it here, I might stay for a while, maybe in different places or maybe just here. Its very tranquil with very few tourists. I'm in a town called benaulim which is less touristic than other goa towns. Today I walked along the beach front to colva, benaulim's big brother and as I was walking through the soft fine white sand, it started squeaking underfoot! The beaches are beautiful here but they also remind me of durban beaches; soft white sand, palm trees and lots of indians at the beach but not in the sun! As I was walking along the beach I was approached by a group of women who wanted me to be in a photo with them. I found out one of the girls was getting married so they were all in goa for the wedding. I also had some disgusting man try expose himself to me but I managed to ignore him and keep walking, looking in another direction. So far this is the only disgusting thing I've experienced here.

I have a new love, that of fresh coconut milk. So much so that I've started actually seeking out vendors who sell coconuts! I drank a juice from a street vendor who used normal water and pre-sliced fruit and today I feel fine. Don't want to jinx it, but I'm starting to think the dehli belly thing is exaggerated! but don't worry mom, I'm still going to be careful with what I eat!

The train ride last night was interesting. I ended up in a carriage with mostly foreigners and we all went to sleep quite early. Not very comfortable sleeping on those rock hard beds but there was a/c so its all ok.

I think that the weather here is preparing me for the south african summer! Its crazy hot over here and extremely humid, another reason why I think of durban!

Slums, markets and train stations

Today has been a brilliant day, so much done! I started the day with a type of the biggest slum in mumbai, the third biggest in the world. What an interesting place! Its an entire community inside the slum, and its also the place where most of india's plastic is being recycled. I felt so bad about the vast amounts of bottled water I was drinking but now I know it helps give someone a job, a rather dreadful job of searching through dumpsters to find the plastic bottles, but a job none the less. The plastic is sorted in the slum, broken down and dried on the roofs of the buildings. This is then melted down and made into long thun cables of plastic that are cut up into little squares and sold to plastic manufacturers. So those sunglasses you're wearing could easily have been recycled plastic from Dharavi slum.

After touring the slum Crawford market was next on the list where I couldn't help but buy some incredible smelling spices, apparently the best in india. He also delivers internationally... I bought some tea spices, that are better than going to the doctor and some masala spice. 97 different spices mixed into that packet! Makes any curry taste good! Guess who'll be making the best curry in durban... Haha! Vedanthi your mom's is still the best indian curry I've had in durban!

I'm now in the fancy air con waiting room, waiting another 1.5 hours for my train to goa.

The head wobble

Today was dedicated to visiting elephanta caves, an how off the coast of mumbai. I'm starting to realise that its probably a lot easier to travel by taxi in mumbai, you will get a lot more accomplished! It took us about an hour to walk a 15 minute journey! Whenever you stop and ask for directions, you are met with a friendly head wobble and gesturing in a definite direction. This direction is definitely not always the correct one! We discovered this today while trying to find the gateway to india. A huge landmark in mumbai, a lot of locals will not be able to tell you where it is!

Eventually we took a can when we realised we's walked in completely the wrong direction for 10 minutes!

The caves were lovely, but would've been nice to spend more time there!

Oh I forgot, we got distracted on the way to the train station in the search of food and ended up walking through lovely suburban streets. I bought a coconut and drink such delicious coconut milk. It might become a regular thing now!

On the way back from the caves we took a rickshaw to the hostel and the driver was trying to tell us something we couldn't understand. at the end of the journey we realised he wanted the metre price plus 20, we all looked indignant and when I threatened to report him to the traffic police I got a smile and a friendly head wobble as he drove away. Guess he had to try! He's been my favourite taxi driver so far!

Tomorrow I'm going on a slum tour at 10 with Pilar

Survived india day 1

Today was my first day in mumbai. Its exhausting st the moment because everything is so new and needs to be discovered through trial and many errors! Thankfully indians are helpful and generally very nice. I started today with a rickshaw ride to the train station, a journey I think I would walk usually, if it were not 30° out there!

the train journey to the centre was only 20 ruppees, the same price as a bottle of water! A group of us walked from the main station to the gateway to india, a trip I'll be making again tomorrow to see the elephanta caves.

I love the life and noise that is all around mumbai, its amazing to see so many people all so busy. It seems like a place that never sleeps! Even more so than new york felt! I have to mentioned I got thoroughly ripped off on the price of a sim card, you constantly have to be alert here!

We had a massively expensive lunch at this fancy restaurant on the way to the gate way to india. Absolutely delicious!

Its now nearly 10 and bed is calling!

Tuc tuc tuc

Last night (or rather earlier this morning) I arrived in india. My trip started with me losing my water bottle in abu dhabi :( but so far so good in india. I had an amazing time bargaining for taxi prices to the hostel, then found a rickshaw driver willing to take me for a decent price. He got lost though but eventually we found the place, after numerous phone calls and other helpful rickshaw drivers pointing us in the right direction! Surprisingly, it took me ages to fall asleep and with the hours of being in a hostel, you wake up when everyone else does!

Today I face mumbai as I head into town to book train tickets and see the famous gateway to india. There are a few people from the hostel going so I'm joining them for now.